Why Easter is Evil . .

[tabcom]

**My intent is not to go on an anti-catholic rant . . . . but to challenge a beliver into growing up in their faith.

I believe Easter is evil for several reasons. Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past. This is anti-christ.

Believing that Jesus was raised from the dead 2000 years ago is not enough for salvation (2 Tim 2:16). Christ must be resurrected in us, if we are to have eternal life. Jesus said, ‘Whosoever doth not bear his cross (dying to the flesh) and come after me, cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14:27). He said again, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” (John 6:53) What Jesus is saying is unless you take your cross and die with him, participating in his death, daily, you have no eternal life and you are not following him. Paul said it best: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection (in me) and the fellowship of his suffering (death to self), being made comformable unto his death” (Phillipians 3: 10). Fellowship and communion are the same Greek word koinonia meaning to partake or communicate (have in common). Our spiritual communion is in his body (the church) (Col. 1:24). The true spiritual bread. "For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread (I Cor. 10: 17). "We partake in the death of Christ “eating his flesh” and “drinking his blood” when we “die to self” living for Christ in fellowship with his church, which is his body (the true flesh and spiritual bread).

**

 

[Tantum_ergo]

Easter, or the Paschal Mystery, is not evil.

What is your source for saying

Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past

Every single Catholic Mass not only proclaims that Christ is risen, but every single Mass in the consecration not only once again brings us the Last Supper and Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross, by the mystery of the bread and wine becoming Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity of Christ, the Mass demonstrates the eternal, unchanging, unending news of the Resurrection. It is not ‘past’ but ever here. Every Sunday is a “little Easter”. It is not just a remembrance of Christ’s resurrection, it is, mysteriously, at Mass, that very same “resurrection” which happened ‘in time’ in about AD 33 yet because Christ is God, exists also, ‘out of time’, forever.

 

[tabcom]

What is your source for saying
“(Easter) deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past”

**2 Tim 2:16
Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless,
17
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18
who have deviated from the truth by saying that (the) resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting the faith of some.
**

 

[JaneFrances]

**2 Tim 2:16
Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless,
17
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18
who have deviated from the truth by saying that (the) resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting the faith of some.
**

I think you are very confused about the point of this Scripture as well as the purpose for our celebration of Easter.

1. Easter is a celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
2. Jesus Christ’s Resurrection HAS already taken place! It was an historcial event in which the Man, Jesus Christ, rose from the dead and emerged from his tomb.
3. The entire Christian faith is based upon the fact of Christ’s Life, Death, and Resurrection as actual historical events which bring forth God’s Divine plan for salvation.
4. St. Paul’s letter regarding Hymenaeus and Philetus does not refer to a faulty teaching about Christ’s Resurrection. Instead, he is referencing a false teaching regarding the resurrection of the saints, as evidenced in certain early heresies.

 

[VociMike]

“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!”

 

[Mannyfit75]

**My intent is not to go on an anti-catholic rant . . . . but to challenge a beliver into growing up in their faith.

I believe Easter is evil for several reasons. Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past. This is anti-christ.
**

I do think this thread is anti-Catholic.

The Jews celebrate Passover to remember their deliverance from Egypt.

Easter is a remembrance for Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection. Christians have been celebrating Easter in its beginning. How are we to live a Christian if we do not remember that Jesus died and rise on the third day.

When you Scripture you read it as a historical event a past. In the Easter Scripture comes alive through the liturgy. How dare you say Easter is evil.

Easter is Jesus centered. It’s not the Bunny Rabbit or the Easter Bunny. It is Jesus Christ center period.

 

[Gamera]

**… who have deviated from the truth by saying that (the) resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting the faith of some.

**

That means the resurrection of all the dead, not the resurrection of Jesus.

 

[joshua_b]

That means the resurrection of all the dead, not the resurrection of Jesus.

“Proof text without context is pretext”.

 

[StevenFrancis]

God:

Please bless this poster - tabcom. Forgive this person their blasphemies and heresies. May the Holy Spirit enter this person, and guide them to the true meanings of the Holy Days memorialized in your Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Help them as well to understand meanings behind all of your blessed Sacraments. Please reveal to them the full richness of your truth, as revealed through your scriptures, and the traditions of your Holy Church. I ask this in the name of the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit.

Peace be with you tabcom,

Now and always,

Steven

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

The feast of Easter commemorates an event that has happened - it is not a denial of it, but an affirmation of it. The Resurrection of Christ is past, but it has not lost any of its power, & it is this unique & life-giving Resurrection which is the source of the resurrection of the dead that is yet to come.

 

[Truthstalker]

**

**I believe Easter is evil for several reasons. Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past. This is anti-christ. **

**

So if that is not anti-Christ, then it does not deceive, then Easter is not evil for this reason.

Here is what Scripture says about anti-Christ:

1Jo 2:18 Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour.
1Jo 2:22 Who is a liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist who denies the Father and the Son.
1Jo 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
2Jo 1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world who do not confess Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

Easter does not deny that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh. Rather, it affirms it. Therefore it is not anti-Christ.

Secondly, Christ’s resurrection is affirmed at Easter. This resurrection is past. It also, in the Creed, mentions the Resurrection to come. It does not then deceive people into thinking the resurrection is past.

Therefore Easter is not evil. Therefore, for this reason, you cannot believe Easter is evil.

Your second paragraph contains nothing that would indicate Easter is evil.

Therefore you do not believe Easter is evil.

Surrender.

 

[Milliardo]

Ah–I just love such threads. When we commemorate Easter, Christmas and the like, we make present what happened. Remember that Christ’s Passion, death and Resurrection are timeless events, meaning that they transcend time itself. So the power and efficacy of the Resurrection is as true today as it was then. So is Easter evil then? Hardly.

 

[Harpazo]

Thanks tabcom. I needed a good laugh today.

Apparently you share something in common with many Protestants. I’ve heard Messianic “Jews” make that same assertion. It’s rather ridiculous, and it could sound to some that you are trying to judge a person’s heart.

In Pax Christi
Andrew

 

[Sean_Boyle]

2 Tim 2:16
Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless,
17
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18
who have deviated from the truth by saying that (the) resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting the faith of some.

Congradulations, you just refuted protestantism using scripture alone. Well done.

 

[Malcolm_McLean]

**I believe Easter is evil for several reasons. Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past. This is anti-christ.

Believing that Jesus was raised from the dead 2000 years ago is not enough for salvation (2 Tim 2:16). **

The question is do we have to commemorate, each year, an event that occured once?

The answer is, no the Church is not obliged to do so. Jesus’ commandment was to celebrate the breaking of bread. However Jewish people, like most peoples, had a tradition of annual festivities, including the Passover. Jesus seems to have gone to Jerusalem for the purpose of being there at Passover. It seems a natural thing for Christians to celebrate a modified Passover to accomodate the new spiritual situation which arose after Jesus’ death.

There have been huge and sometimes bitter disputes over the correct dating of Easter. I certainly wouldn’t say that the current Catholic date is “correct”. However it is the one that we in the West accept and there is no point reopening unnecessary disputes.

The Church would have the authority to remove the Easter liturgies and ban Christmas. However it will never happen. In an non-agricultural society the seasons have less meaning than they did, but there are still different times, and a period for reflection of Jesus’ sufferings, followed by a period of rejoicing at His resurrection, then a period of attempting to live in the life of the spirit, is a wise thing. However if you want to argue that I am wrong and the Pope ought to put a stop to Easter, you will be regarded as highly eccentric but no-one will throw you out of the Church. As members we have to obey the current rules, which can change - for instance originally Sundays were counted as the forty days of Lent, now they are not. I think once Easter began at dawn Easter Sunday, now it begins at sundown Easter Saturday.

 

[itsjustdave1988]

**…I believe Easter is evil for several reasons. Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past. **

I’d say instead that you are contending against that which you haven’t put much study into.

Easter is the celebration of “the saving work of her divine Spouse” (CCC 1163). It is celebrated every day in the Catholic Mass, but more solemnly once per week on the Lord’s Day, and in a most solemn way once per year. How could that be evil? I

Perhaps you should read more about what the Catholic Church celebrates when it celebrates Easter. I can’t imagine that you could call Easter evil if you participated in the same liturgy that I participated in.

If you presume Catholicism presents this paschal mystery as as “past” in the sacred liturgy, then it is you that has been deceived.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches:

When the Church celebrates the mystery of Christ, there is a word that marks her prayer: “Today!” - a word echoing the prayer her Lord taught her and the call of the Holy Spirit [Cf. *Mt

6:11; Heb 3:7-4:11; Ps 95:7]. This “today” of the living God which man is called to enter is “the hour” of Jesus’ Passover, which reaches across and underlies all history:
Life extends over all beings and fills them with unlimited light; the Orient of orients pervades the universe, and he who was “before the daystar” and before the heavenly bodies, immortal and vast, the great Christ, shines over all beings more brightly than the sun. Therefore a day of long, eternal light is ushered in for us who believe in him, a day which is never blotted out: the mystical Passover. [St. Hippolytus, *De pasch. 1-2 SCh 27,117.] [CCC 1165]

 

[itsjustdave1988]

**2 Tim 2:16
Avoid profane, idle talk, for such people will become more and more godless,
17
and their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus,
18
who have deviated from the truth by saying that (the) resurrection has already taken place and are upsetting the faith of some.
**

Tabcom…this was a contention of Hymenaeus and Philetus that those who would be resurrected with Christ have already been so resurrected, and that those who still remained in Paul’s day and beyond have no hope of a resurrection. This has nothing to do with celebrating Christ’s paschal mystery as Catholics do every day, solemnly on the Lord’s Day, and most solemnly on Easter every year.

St. Augustine describes a very Catholic understanding…

[Paul] thus reproves and testifies against [Hymenaeus and Philetus], teaches nevertheless that we are risen with Christ. How is the apparent contradiction to be removed, unless he means that this is accomplished in us by faith and hope and love, according to the first-fruits of the Spirit? But because “hope which is seen is not hope,” and therefore “if we hope for that we see not, we do with patience wait for it,” it is beyond question that there remains, as still future, the redemption of the body, in longing for which we “groan within ourselves.” Hence also that saying, “Rejoicing in hope, patient in tribulation.” [Romans 12:12]

1. This renewal, therefore, of our life is a kind of transition from death to life which is made first by faith, so that we rejoice in hope and are patient in tribulation*, while still “our outward man perishes, but the inward man is renewed day by day.”* [2 Corinthians 4:16] It is because of this beginning of a new life, because of the new man which we are commanded to put on, putting off the old man, [Colossians 3:9-10] “purging out the old leaven, that we may be a new lump, because Christ our passover is sacrificed for us;” [1 Corinthians 5:7] i***t is, I say, because of this newness of life in us, that the first of the months of the year has been appointed as the season of this solemnity…***the day of the celebration of Easter Letter 55, ch. 3]

 

[Church_Militant]

My intent is not to go on an anti-catholic rant . . . . but to challenge a beliver into growing up in their faith.

I believe Easter is evil for several reasons. Firstly, it deceives the believer into thinking that the resurrection is past. This is anti-christ.

No your message is anti-Christ. This is deception and another gospel. Trying to tell Catholics that their faith is evil and anti-Christ is not only untrue, but if I am not mistaken is a gross violation of a couple of the forums rules for which I am going to report your post.

1. You have disrespected the faith of Catholics here at CAF, (on the holiest day of the year no less!) and
2. You are flagrantly attempting to proselytize Catholics away from our most holy faith.

Both of these are specifically stated in the Forum Rules and Banned Topics Policy.

Maybe you should have paid some attention to Pope Benedict XVI’s homily at the Easter Vigil Mass.

Believing that Jesus was raised from the dead 2000 years ago is not enough for salvation (2 Tim 2:16).

A bit of context will go a long way to a real understanding of what you have messed up. You should have started with verse 15 at least. 15: Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
16: Avoid such godless chatter, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness,
17: and their talk will eat its way like gangrene. Among them are Hymenae’us and Phile’tus,
18: who have swerved from the truth by holding that the resurrection is past already. They are upsetting the faith of some.
19: But God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Let every one who names the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” They weren’t teaching a believe in the past resurrection of Jesus… they were teaching that the final resurrection of the dead had come and gone.

Christ must be resurrected in us, if we are to have eternal life. Jesus said, 'Whosoever doth not bear his cross (dying to the flesh

) and come after me, cannot be my disciple’ (Luke 14:27).27: Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple. All out of context again and offered here with your own interpretation stretched over it.

There are several other passages that deal with this. Luke 9:23, Matthew 10:38 and 16:34, and then Mark 8:34. This in no way indicts the message of Easter which is one of praise that we as believers share in the resurrection of Christ and are empowered by it.

He said again, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.” (John 6:53) What Jesus is saying is unless you take your cross and die with him, participating in his death, daily, you have no eternal life and you are not following him.

Paul said it best: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection (in me) and the fellowship of his suffering (death to self), being made comformable unto his death” (Phillipians 3: 10). Fellowship and communion are the same Greek word koinonia meaning to partake or communicate (have in common). Our spiritual communion is in his body (the church) (Col. 1:24). The true spiritual bread. "For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers of that one bread (I Cor. 10: 17). "We partake in the death of Christ “eating his flesh” and “drinking his blood” when we “die to self” living for Christ in fellowship with his church, which is his body (the true flesh and spiritual bread).

No…actually that is not at all what that passage in John 6 is talking about it and again you have sought to force your own interpretation upon a passage of the Word of God. For a scriptural study on what that passage really means see this thread.The Eucharist IS Scriptural!. Maybe it will help you grow up in the faith.

Another great message from Benedict XVI!

Christ has died! Alleluia!
Christ is risen! Alleluia!
Christ will come again! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!

 

[Sixtus]

Christ must be resurrected in us, if we are to have eternal life.

Gottle of Geer said:

The feast of Easter commemorates an event that has happened - it is not a denial of it, but an affirmation of it. The Resurrection of Christ is past, but it has not lost any of its power, & it is this unique & life-giving Resurrection which is the source of the resurrection of the dead that is yet to come.

AMEN:thumbsup:

 

[tabcom]

**Ya’ll will have to excuse me for not reading the vitriol directed towards me with respects to my original post. I knew I was tying myself to the stake and lighting the match when I posted it.

I get that Jesus died and was Resurrected. I learned it at Sunday catechism when I was 8. It was around that time I learned to ride a bicycle without the training wheels.

I’m grateful for those training wheels, but I don’t need to re-attach them to my bike every spring in remembrance when I was a little boy. I drive a car now.**